Srinagar youth planned to join ISIS; deported from Turkey

A 21-year-old Kashmiri youth, who was allegedly trying to join the terror group ISIS, has been deported from Turkey to India after being picked up by the Turkish authorities, official sources here said today.
Srinagar resident Afshan Parvaiz was deported from the Turkish capital of Ankara on May 25 and whisked away to an undisclosed destination by the security agencies in Delhi, the sources said.
He was being assessed by various security agencies, they said.
Parvaiz had left home after an argument with his father, who wanted him to join a college, while the son was interested in religious studies, the sources said.
They said he booked himself a seat on a flight to Tehran on March 23. He was scheduled to return to Delhi on April 9 after exploring avenues for religious studies in Europe, they said.
The Kashmiri man, who is the second person to be deported from Turkey in the last two months, apparently sent a message to his family to tell them that he was facing some “problems”, the sources said.
When the police and other agencies in Kashmir were informed about this, a probe was launched to locate him.
According to the sources, the security agencies then got in touch with their Iranian counterparts, who found out that Parvaiz was travelling to Ankara.
The authorities in Ankara were contacted and he was picked up while he was travelling in a bus in the Turkish capital. He was sent to India on May 25 by a Turkish Airlines flight.
In March, Mohammed Taha, a resident of Srinagar, was deported from Turkey and sent to India. He has been put in preventive custody, the sources said.
Security agencies in India have viewed their alleged plans to join the ISIS with concern. They believe that some Kashmiri youths are getting radicalised by ‘jihadi’ propaganda material shared by the ISIS on the Internet. The agencies feel that if the growing influence of the ISIS is not checked, it can be detrimental to the situation in the Valley. Recently, an audio clip had surfaced on social media sites in which Hizbul Mujahideen commander Zakir Musa could be heard talking about establishing an Islamic caliphate in the Valley.
The 5-minute audio warned Kashmiri separatist leaders against interfering in the Hizb plan to establish a caliphate as the ISIS has done in parts of Syria and Iraq. Musa, incidentally, left Hizb earlier this month after the militant outfit objected to his threats to the separatists.
The call for a caliphate is being seen as a worrying twist to militancy in Kashmir, which has largely revolved around a demand for independence, without an overtly religious subtext.
During the recent protests in the Valley, ISIS flags were waved in certain areas, and slogans supporting the terror group were painted on walls.
However, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin has said there is no place for groups such as the ISIS, Al-Qaida or the Taliban in Jammu and Kashmir.

Second case in two months
Srinagar resident Afshan Parvaiz was deported from Ankara on May 25 and whisked away to an undisclosed destination by the security agencies in Delhi
Parvaiz, who is the second Kashmiri person to be deported from Turkey in the last two months, apparently sent a message to his family to tell them that he was facing some “problems”
In March, Mohammed Taha, a resident of Srinagar, was deported from Turkey and sent to India. He is in preventive custody